Canada Day




Here's the English version song written in 1992 for a contest to celebrate Canada's 125th birthday. And the French lyrics version is immediately below.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcNDR61mxGg 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwI9vElpdAI

No, the song didn't win.  But it's still a pretty good song.   And: even though all Canadians are this July 1st reeling with daily news of more and more unmarked graves of indigenous children buried at residential schools: Canada is still a pretty good country. Perhaps just not as good as we thought we were.  As we liked to believe we were. 

I'm still flying my flag, of course I am.  But my blog isn't headed "Happy Canada Day!!" with exuberant exclamation points.  Because this is most definitely a Canada Day for sober reflection. 

How could this nightmare have happened here?  And continued for decades? How can wrongful inequalities still be happening here?  How can we make sure, at an absolute minimum, that every Canadian child has access to clean water?  To adequate housing?  To fairly funded and culturally sensitive education?  How can it be that in 2021 these issues of fundamental justice are still in question? We can do better, we must do better.   

We were singing about equality, diversity and inclusion twenty-nine years ago.  We meant it then, we mean it now.  And we need to continue to make it happen.  Faster, please.  We cannot delay one minute longer.  

Canada, where hopes and dreams can thrive.  

Where immigrant and native born make our land come alive.

Canada, one nationality.

We form our unity unique from our diversity.  

I am Canadian.  You are Canadian.  We are Canadian.  

Canada's a state of mind.  If we strive with thought and passion it's a dream that we might find. 

  



Comments

  1. Brooklyn_Born1 July 2021 at 07:58

    At first I was just going to comment on the text here including the lyrics which express our "hopes and dreams" so well. Then I listened to the song. As I commented there, I LOVED it and when I realized that YOU wrote the lyrics, WOW, just WOW. I am so glad I know you and we can stay connected.

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    Replies
    1. WATERMELLEN SPARK1 July 2021 at 11:55

      Thank you for your very kind comment! I'm so glad that we have found a way to stay in touch too!!

      Delete
  2. OneKidsMom1 July 2021 at 08:03

    This is the line that jumped out at me, because I believe it captures the human condition so well: "Perhaps just not as good as we thought we were. As we liked to believe we were." I have thought the same about myself, about my fellow US folks, too. We aren't as awful as our worst, and we aren't as good as our best... we are human.

    As growing humans, it is my sincere hope that as we know better, we do better.

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    Replies
    1. WATERMELLEN SPARK1 July 2021 at 11:56

      I don't like to think that most of us have a better opinion of ourselves than we deserve . . . because it's in part because we believe ourselves to be good people that we do strive to be good people. But but but: worth reflecting upon, for sure. And ACTING upon, too!!

      Delete
  3. bknock1 July 2021 at 18:38

    That song is awesome! I am from the USA but I have a lot of Canadian friends from the time I lived in Buffalo!

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    Replies
    1. WATERMELLEN SPARK2 July 2021 at 03:05

      Thank you!! So glad you enjoyed it . . . the themes of equality, diversity and inclusion probably feel more relevant today than in 1992!

      Delete
  4. sparkdoveseyes2 July 2021 at 03:50

    Australia has these issues too, not only the indigenous people have suffered but children sent in WW2. It is a commentary on the people we vote in as well as those who bring these things to light.

    I truly believe we are all family and how would we respond if we thought of these people as our relatives?

    I loved the words to the song too they resonate with me too.

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  5. Patricia-CR2 July 2021 at 04:36

    Beautifully said! Belated Happy Canada Day though it's worth celebrating every day.

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  6. Anonymous2 July 2021 at 08:56

    A Belated Happy Canada Day. Loved the links. The whole world seems to need a serious paradigm shift. ~ PHOENIX1949

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  7. Positivehope2 July 2021 at 14:52

    Yes, I’ve read about your indigenous school tragedy. So sad. Heartbreaking. It happened here in the US, too. I recently read about a Seminary in Virginia, that set aside funds to pay reparations to descendants of slaves that worked there. When someone entered the seminary, they commonly brought slaves with them. The slaves lived on the seminary grounds. One women how received a check said she knew her father had lived in a house on the seminary in 1950 but did not know he was a slave. Who new that was happening in 1950? Recent revelations had made me realize how insensitive I have been to what has happened to people within my lifetime. It’s time to wake up.

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  8. Elizabeth MeadsBay Spark3 July 2021 at 05:33

    Heartbreaking times, beautiful blog.
    Thank you.
    ❤️

    ReplyDelete
  9. 4A.HEALTHY.BMI3 July 2021 at 14:28

    Agree with all of this.

    In the past (and all too often in the present) sentiments about “inclusion” didn’t really mean, “everyone.”

    The US has repeatedly needed to add amendments to our Bill of Rights, in order to clarify who is included. It’s definitely a process. And far too slow.

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  10. Penny Walker5 July 2021 at 07:45

    So many mistakes were made back then in thinking we knew it all. We still think that so much of the time until something raises our heads and our hearts to realize the truth. Even the Bible says we think we're doing right, but we're mistaken. It will always be so and so we must remember to check ourselves and our thinking. Yesterday, the indigenous group here paraded and even rioted with a big flag demanding the land be given back to them! How can we respond at this time?! I do agree that this whole area was taken wrongly...brutally. How to make amends?

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  11. MJ5 July 2021 at 10:33

    It's been a very good reality check for us. Much soul searching here today with orange shirts in abundance. Now we need to extend our concern to all marginalized groups and as a country that welcomes immigrants we know there are many who are made to feel "less". I am glad that the flag is at half mast and I hope it remains that way until all possible burial sites are examined and reparations are made.

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  12. Susiemt6 July 2021 at 11:57

    When you get the answers to those question let me know. Unfortunately there are some sick individuals living everywhere. Some that think they can rule the world with no care for all people. When all lives matter, black lives matter. At the time I remember thinking that just the term "black lives matter" wasn't enough. It just didn't set well with me. I was walking past a store front and in the window was a picture of the saying "When all lives matter, Black lives matter. That was something I could get behind.

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  13. Buttonpopper6 July 2021 at 16:22

    So many of my good friends on SparkPeople are Canadian, and over the past ten years it's been fun to follow their stories--in medium-sized cities near Niagara Falls, in downtown Calgary, on horse farms in the country out west, and now you in the dream location of Prince Edward Island in the east. Knowing people from Canada has really deepened my affection for our neighbors, as it has so many attractive features it makes me want to go live there in the golden years of my life. Not a practical fantasy, but I recognize your country's great beauty.

    So sorry about the recent sad news of the unmarked graves, a shocking tragedy.

    I really enjoyed the song and seeing the photos and listening to your song expressing your deep love for Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Linda (JHADZHIA)9 July 2021 at 04:52

    So very lovely Ellen, your song creation makes me wonder what was the winning song that beat it!
    Canada Day wasn't celebrated here to be sure as Saskatchewan has one of the highest % of indigenous populations in Canada. A march with orange shirts instead. T-Shirt sellers having nothing left but XXL size tells you it is well supported here. My Grandmother was in residential school, but she never talked about it. It had made her into a Christian. She never drank or had any addiction trouble, but lived a quiet, peaceful life on the reservation in a small shack with an outdoor toilet. Sadly, she had a massive stroke at age 72 and spent the next 20 years paralyzed in a city nursing home, always asking to be taken back to her land up north in LaRonge, but they had no care facilities there at the time. She left a beautiful legacy of Cree flower beadwork and birch bark baskets. So she spared my generation from the realities of what went on. Maybe not for the best going through life in ignorant bliss. Eyes wide open now.

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  15. Valerie9 July 2021 at 15:46

    I am glad to have found you again now that SparkPeople is closing. I was JOHAL52 although I had been MIA quite a bit the last few years. My blogspot name is https://valeriesbookofme.blogspot.com and I will increasingly be posting the kind of blog that I used to post in SparkPeople. I loved the song you posted. I still live in Arizona but I am still a Canadian citizen first and if it were feasible, I would move back to Canada in a heartbeat. Compared to so many countries, Canada is an amazing country!!

    ReplyDelete

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